Syeira Jackson
Syeira Amanda Jackson is a main character in the Batman: Dark Knight Rises story Castle of Glass. She is a little below the average height at 5"5, and was born in Gotham, on the 15th of June, 1992. She turns 20 during the course of the story. Syeira is known for being a former police in training, now turned journalist. 'Background' Syeira was born in Gotham, but raised for most of her life across the Atlantic, in London. She had an older brother, Heath, but when he was killed in a car crash that her father survived, her previously happy and smooth life changed dramatically. Her parents began to fight and her mother was inconsolable over the loss of her son, she blamed her husband for the accident, and also for surviving in place of Heath. Eventually, when Syeira was seven years old, they divorced and her mother moved back to England, finding herself unable to safe living in Gotham any longer. Syeira then grew up in London, but had a fairly strained relationship with her mother. As soon as she was 18 and graduated high school, she left England and returned to Gotham, living with her father once again. After Heath’s death, she always felt a strong compulsion to chase after justice and what was right, so she joined the police academy and was in training to become an officer. Settling back into Gotham wasn’t overly difficult for her, but she did find it hard to be taken seriously sometimes at the academy due to her appearance and history. But she managed to make friends, and mend her relationship with her father. She looked up to Commissioner Gordon a lot, and held his ideals in high esteem. Despite that, she never fully understood the entire Harvey Dent story. As well as wanted to chase justice, Syeira also wanted to do what was right and know the truth. When Bane began his takeover of Gotham city, she wasn’t permitted to go into the tunnels with other officers, as only the almost-graduates of the academy were granted permission. When Bane assumed control of Gotham, driving the city into anarchy, she and the others were all told to just lie low and not draw attention to themselves. But she didn’t want to just sit idly by, and planned a small counter strike to just show rebellion. However, it didn’t go according to plan, and she was sighted by one of Bane’s men. After finding out that she still lived with her dad however, bane chose not to go after her, but sent men to kill her father. When she arrived back home and found the body, Syeira became wracked with guilt over what she’d done, and after that lost a lot of her will to live, and didn’t really do anything at all. When Gotham was freed by the Batman, she regained some of her faith in herself and others, enough to stop just barely living her life. She pulled out of the academy, having realised that what she really wanted would forever conflict with what would be asked of her is she joined the police force. And after finding out the truth about Harvey Dent, she found it hard to look at Gordon with the same eyes, and had lost a lot of trust in Gotham’s police forces. She began devoting more time to searching for the truth, wanting to find out the full story on everything and started on almost a journalistic career. 'Appearance' Syeira has light red hair that falls in light waves just a few inches past her shoulders, her eyes are bright blue in some lights, and can darken to grey at times. She has a pale complexion, and a kind of innocent, doll-like, appearance that makes her appear quite young and naïve. 'Personality' She’s a very strong willed person, and not good at taking no for an answer; that, put with her fiery temper, doesn’t make her a very easy person to dissuade or argue with. Syeira has a strong sense of right and wrong, and trusts to her instincts on matters, she isn’t good at following orders if that conflicts with what she feels should be done. She is very passionate about what she believes in, and will strive hard for what she wants, not giving up once she’s set her mind on something. However, she sometimes gets carried away and doesn’t look at all possibilities that could be consequences for her actions. Syeira is also very hard on herself, very critical of everything she does, and finds it easy to blame herself for things that weren’t really entirely her fault. She tries to hide what she’s really thinking and feeling, burying her pain under another focus, and never really moving on from anything. She values the truth above all things, and constantly wants to find out and know about it. Despite that, she has always lied to herself the most. 'Ambitions' Since she was little, she always had ideals about wanting to join the police and stand up for justice, which is why she joined the academy as soon as she graduated and moved back to Gotham. She also was very good at fact finding when it came to her little searches for truth, which is what led her into investigation and journalism. 'Strengths' Her force of will and determination are both things that enable her ability to not give up on things. She also has good instincts on events and people, and a quick judgement that allows her to make the right call in most situations. She puts the truth above all things, and doesn’t tolerate lying. She places others in a higher priority than herself, and if she knows a person, she is fairly perceptive on what they’re really feeling. 'Weaknesses' One of her biggest weaknesses, is her inability to control her temper when she really should, and to contain herself to sit in patience when it is needed. She always wants to act and stand up, and that behaviour doesn’t always serve her well because she doesn’t know when to stop it. She also has a big tendency to blame herself, and has very low self worth. Her habit of hiding her pain by trying to just ignore it doesn’t help her in the long run, the same with burying her sadness. 'Habits' When discussing something that she is passionate, angry, or determined about; she has a frequent habit of getting very into it, gesticulating and getting carried away sometimes. If she’s angry, she has slight destructive tendencies, and lashes out at things or people. When she’s upset and trying to hide it, she avoids eye contact or fiddles around. 'Relationships' 'Family' 'Pippa Sampson' Even when Syeira was a little girl, it was clear that her mother had a closer relationship with her brother, but that was alright as Syeira was closer to her father anyway. But when Heath died, and Pippa divorced her husband, she didn’t want to lose another child, so she took Syeira to England with her. However, Pippa couldn’t stop holding Syeira up against Heath, and frequently compared her children, which is what gave Syeira her low self worth and the constant belied that she wasn’t doing anything right. Syeira didn’t have a particularly close or warm relationship with her mother, and living with her was actually a fairly unhappy time, which is why she moved out as soon as she could. Despite that, she did love her mum and she never really worked things out with her, only lived in annoyance. 'Reid Jackson' Syeira and her father were always close, both being similar minded people, and he was heartbroken at having her taken away from him after also losing his son. For many years, he had let his ex-wife’s words about the death of Heath get to him, but he eventually reached a stage where he made himself see the truth; that it wasn’t his fault and he couldn’t’ have stopped it. While Syeira was in England, the pair didn’t have much contact, but she sought him out when she returned to Gotham, and he was happy to take her back into his life. The pair of them slipped back into how things used to be, and were very close once again. When he died, Syeira knew that it was her fault, and slipped into a similar state to what he’d been in after Heath’s death. She misses her dad more than anything. 'Heath Jackson' He was two years older than Syeira, and the pair of them had a very close brother-sister relationship. He always looked out for his little sister, and didn’t ever leave her behind. She loved him a lot, and looked up to him, always trusting her brother to make things right in her world. But he was in an accident when he was only nine years old, and his death shattered the family. Syeira still remembers him fondly, and misses him a great deal. 'Friends' 'Kelly Williams' Syeira’s best friend when they were kids, and they kept in contact after Syeira left Gotham. When Syeira returned, Kelly was more than happy to pick up the friendship, and the pair stuck together. Kelly helped her get back into Gotham and make friends with other people so that she wasn’t alone, also keeping her up to date on everything that was happening. She is supportive of Syeira following her father’s death, and tries to get her to move on and see that Reid wouldn’t have wanted her to live like that. After Gotham started rebuilding, Kelly invited Syeira to come and live with her, and helped her get set up with some jobs after Syeira quiet the force. 'Sebastian Cane' He was her first friend in the academy, and the one who looked out for her a lot there, and in many ways Sebastian reminds Syeira of her dead brother, Heath. The pair of them are very similar minded, and he worked with her on little ideas to stand up against Bane during the anarchy. He was however the more cautious of the two, and kept a close eye on her during those times. Even after she leaves the force, he still reminds close to her, and checks up on her a lot to make sure she’s okay. 'Love Interest' 'John Blake' Syeira only knew John as one of the police force in Gotham, but no more than that while she was at the academy. She looked up to him a lot during the Bane takeover, and admired the way he handled things. However, she never took much notice of him until she had her encounter with Robin, the new caped crusader in Gotham. After Robin saved her from an attack, she became intensely curious and wanted to find out his identity, but John kept on warding her off. She became investigative about him too, and came to have feelings for him, while still searching for the mysterious Robin. John found her to be a nuisance at first, and wanted her to not find out about him, trying to repeatedly put her off the trail. After spending some time with her though, he came to care for her more, and wanted o keep her safe. She in turn, started opening up more to him with the truth. When she was again saved by Robin, but his mask was slightly skewed off, she realised that it was John and confronted him about it. At first she was angry with him, but them understood, and still cared for him.